Passage: Ephesians 1:7-9

The Big Idea

We spend a lot of time talking about what grace does for us. But what does God get out of the deal? Paul says He lavished His grace on us according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself. The answer is love. God wants a relationship with you, free from anything that gets in the way, and grace is how He gets it.

What Love Does to Us

I’m a sucker for a good musical montage in a movie: a love story set to music. It works every time. The air gets dusty. Why? Because almost everyone understands love. We long for it, even for fictional people on a screen. Love stirs our hearts and even affects our bodies.

Researchers have studied what love does to us, and some of their findings are pretty funny:

People who are passionately in love have a harder time focusing on other tasks. Their minds keep drifting to the beloved.
Brain scans suggest falling in love activates the same reward system involved in addiction. Love makes you “high.”
Feelings of intense love seem to engage the same brain areas that pain-relieving drugs do. Just holding hands with someone you love may ease pain.
Men tend to slow their walking pace to match a romantic partner’s, but not a friend’s.
People in love may even begin to mirror each other’s heartbeat and tone of voice.
Love makes people more willing to take risks for each other.

Love changes us. And here’s the thing: we have to get away from the idea that faith is mainly about theology, works and going to church. Grace is all about Him, and about love. We could spend ages exploring the benefits of grace toward us. Today let’s discover what it does for Jesus.

Grace That Abounds (Ephesians 1:7-8)

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace, which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence (Ephesians 1:7-8).

Grace overflowing toward us both demonstrates God’s wisdom and gives wisdom to the believer who receives it. The two become one.

Two Greek words are used here:

Sophia (wisdom): insight into the true nature of things. It’s more theoretical.
Phronesis (prudence, insight): practical wisdom, the ability to discern how to act, with a view to the results.

Jesus’ grace works in both theory and practice!

In sophia, we understand the true nature of our relationship with Jesus: standing before Him innocent of all sin by faith in Christ, justified by faith. We can’t see it right now, but we understand it. We know it’s true even though much of it is still unseen.
In phronesis, we see God’s power unleashed in our lives in real, tangible ways. Our hearts change, our actions follow, and the result is undeniable evidence of God’s power working through grace. A changed life is an amazing witness.

Grace gives us all of both.

It isn’t just an idea of being right with God someday.
It isn’t just about right now, with no view of the future.
It’s all of both: everything we need, now and later.

Grace completely works. There’s no partial work of grace. It’s the way God works all the time. There isn’t another way. He just lets it abound and abound toward us. If you think you’re testing the limits of God’s resources, you’re not.

The Mystery of His Will (Ephesians 1:9)

He has made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself (Ephesians 1:9).

This whole grace relationship, called the New Covenant, was a mystery before Jesus came. But now we can look back with wisdom and see that God’s will and desire are clearly laid out.

God would desire to do things this way? What doesn’t He desire?

Samuel told Saul that the LORD doesn’t delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying His voice (1 Samuel 15:22).
Through Hosea, God said He desires mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings (Hosea 6:6).
Hebrews says God didn’t desire or take pleasure in the sacrifices offered under the Law (Hebrews 10:8).

The New Covenant provides the very things the Lord desires!

Through Jeremiah, God promised a new covenant, not like the one He made when He led Israel out of Egypt, which they broke though He was a husband to them. Instead He would put His law in their minds and write it on their hearts. He would be their God, and they would be His people. They wouldn’t need to teach each other to know the LORD, because they would all know Him, from the least to the greatest. For He would forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

A big part of the mystery was that this covenant would be opened to all people, Gentiles included, not just Israel and Judah (Ephesians 3:6).

God is happy when we can live with Him without sin getting in the way. Grace does that, and does it very well, both in our standing and in practice.
God is pleased when His law is written on hearts and not on stone.
When people serve the Lord because they want to, not because they’re following a list of rules.

Is that you? Is His Spirit living in you, writing His will on your heart? It can be, by faith.

His Good Pleasure

“According to His good pleasure.”

When you start to understand the depths of grace freely lavished on those who believe in what Jesus did on the cross, you might start to wonder: Why would God do this? What does He get out of the deal?

The Greek word for good pleasure (eudokia) implies a gracious purpose, a good goal in view, and a resolve made gladly and willingly.

Look at a few other places this phrase appears:

Luke 12:32. Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Give is the language of grace. Wages are paid to someone who works for you; a gift is given to someone you love. God wants to give you the kingdom. He isn’t disappointed in His team.
Philippians 2:13. It is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. If anyone’s doing the work around here, it’s God! He’s working in you to change your heart and actions as you trust Him. He gets His desires accomplished by grace. They’re never accomplished by trying to keep the Law.
2 Thessalonians 1:11. Paul prayed that God would count them worthy of their calling and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power. Not our works, but His grace. He counts you worthy; you don’t earn it. It’s His goodness and His power, not yours. And it all “works” in your life as you believe in His grace.

Grace is what we’re called to grow in. Not law, not obedience as a ladder. Grace is to be our focus and centerpiece. Why? Because it’s His focus.

Relationship

So what does He get out of the deal? Relationship.

Through Jeremiah, God said He knows the plans He has for His people, plans for peace and not disaster, to give them a future and a hope. They would call on Him and He would listen; they would seek Him with all their heart and find Him (Jeremiah 29:11-14).
The LORD takes pleasure in His people; He beautifies the humble with salvation (Psalm 149:4).
The LORD your God is in your midst, the Mighty One who saves. He rejoices over you with gladness, quiets you with His love, and rejoices over you with singing (Zephaniah 3:17).
And nothing, not death or life, angels or rulers, present or future, height or depth, or anything else in creation, can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:37-39).

He’s in it for you! What is the purpose He purposed in Himself? He loves you.

(If you want to read His love letter, try the Song of Solomon.)

Grace Takeaway

God didn’t lavish His grace on you out of obligation. He did it according to His good pleasure, because He loves you and wants you near. Grace removes everything that stands between you and Him, and writes His heart on yours. What does He get out of the deal? You. And He rejoices over you with singing.

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What Does He Get Out of the Deal?